Balancing Chemical Reactions Worksheet A glow stick is a popular toy and safety device. To use a glow stick, you bend a small flexible plastic tube to break a small glass capsule inside, at which point the stick begins to glow. How do you think this works

Concept of chemi-fluorescence

Explanation:

A glow stick usually consists of two chemicals in a larger plastic tube: , a base catalyst (mostly sodium salicylate), and a suitable dye (sensitizer, or fluorophor). This creates an exergonic reaction when mixed together.

When a glow stick is bent, the flurophor which is a chemical that easily re-emits light upon excitation in smaller capsules is released into the other substance, there by causing it to emit radiation/light in the uv-visible region. The brightness and longevity of the glow stick is determined by varying the concentration of these chemicals.

I hope this explanation clarifies things.